Blog

The introduction to this series, about the Wadsworth family and the Wadsworth Atheneum, is here. For all posts in the series, click here. The next few posts will be Hudson River School and related American works.

A View in the White Mountains: Thomas Cole, 1827

The frame on this item is particularly lovely. I could almost have used this as the large illustration, but forgot about adjusting my camera for museum lighting (tungsten) … you can see in the clouds, for instance, that the overall tone below is too yellowish.

As I said in the first post in this series, the founder of the Wadsworth Atheneum, Daniel Wadsworth (1771–1848), was an amateur artist and architect, and more importantly for our story here, a patron of American artists. Among the first ones he befriended was Thomas Cole (1801-1848), an Englishman who moved to the U.S. in 1818.

Largely self-taught as a painter, Cole specialized in the landscapes of the Catskills, where he lived beginning in 1825. Cole’s home on the Hudson River in Catskill, New York, is now a museum.

Cole’s exhibition of works at the American Academy of Fine Arts in 1826 drew the praise of well-known painter John Trumbull, who knew Daniel and his father Jeremiah from having painted their portrait way back in 1784. (See this post.) Trumbull put Cole in touch with Daniel Wadsworth, who became Cole’s patron. The year after Cole painted A View in the White Mountains, Wadsworth commissioned him to paint his home, Monte Video. (See, again, this post.) The Wadsworth Atheneum owns thirteen paintings by Cole.

View on Lake Winnipiseogee: Thomas Cole, 1828

According to the museum’s label, Daniel Wadsworth introduced Cole to the White Mountain region of New Hampshire, and one of Wadsworth’s sketches inspired this painting.

Aside from being an excellent artist in his own right, Cole is considered the founder of the Hudson River School, a loose association of painters who flourished from about 1825 to 1875. Other prominent members included Asher B. Durand (1796-1886), Jasper Francis Cropsey (1823-1900), and Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900). Their usual subjects were the Hudson River Valley and the Catskill, Berkshire, and White Mountains. Often the paintings had subtle morals or literary implications. Cole’s The Oxbow, one of my favorite paintings at the Metropolitan Museum, shows a cultivated area on one side, a wild area on the other: a commentary on changes in the American landscape.

The second generation of Hudson River School painters is often called “Luminism”, but View on Lake Winnipiseogee is quite luminous, too, isn’t it?

Mount Etna from Taormina: Thomas Cole, 1843

During his second visit to Italy (1841-1842), Cole was struck by the juxtaposition of eternal, unchanging nature with the ruins of Roman civilization. This is the largest of at least six canvases that he painted of Mt. Etna, in Sicily. The theme of the passing of earthly glory is also elaborated in one of his most famous works. The Course of Empire (1836, five paintings at the New-York Historical Society) shows one landscape over five generations, changing from nearly untouched nature to the height of an empire and then to desolation. For more of Cole’s paintings, see here.

View of Quebec: Frederic Edwin Church, 1846

At Daniel Wadsworth’s recommendation, Cole accepted Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900) as a student. Church’s early works, such as this one, show a strong influence from Cole. I love the composition of this one!

And the frame … I’m still trying to work out terms for how frames improve paintings. But this one certainly does.

Along with John Frederick Kensett and Sanford Robinson Gifford, Church was part of the second generation of Hudson River School painters, often referred to as the Luminists.

Journey to Hartford: Frederic Edwin Church, 1846

Again, the frame makes it better.

Full title: Reverend Thomas Hooker and Company Journeying through the Wilderness from Plymouth to Hartford in 1636. This painting by Church still shows strong influence from his teacher Thomas Cole. It portrays Rev. Hooker and his flock trekking from Massachusetts to the site of Hartford, presented in a way reminiscent of the way many artists showed the Holy Family’s journey to Egypt. The site of Hartford’s first church, established by Rev. Hooker, is opposite the Wadsworth Atheneum.

Religious pilgrimages don’t generally interest me, but this one’s a bit different. Hooker, a Puritan leader in England, fled to the Massachusetts Bay colony in the early 1630s. He disagreed with the colony’s rule that limited the right to vote to men who had been admitted to a church after a detailed interrogation regarding their beliefs. Hooker led dozens of followers about a hundred miles west to the site of Hartford, the first settlement in what became the Connecticut Colony. Hooker’s sermons included such radical statements as “The foundation of authority is laid in the free consent of the people.” In 1639, settlers of the neighboring towns of Hartford, Windsor and Wethersfield adopted the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. It’s arguably the first written constitution to create a government, and was influential on the U.S. Constitution. That’s why Connecticut’s nickname is “The Constitution State”.

Daniel Wadsworth died in 1848, so this was probably one of the last paintings by Church that he saw.

Next week: the next wave of Hudson River School paintings … and more.

Wadsworth posts on American art

When I visited the Wadsworth, visitors were sent through the galleries in reverse chronological order due to social distancing. If you’d rather read the posts in order (seventeenth through twentieth centuries), the sequence would be as follows. Part 1 is the introduction to the series.

• part 12: 16th to early 19th centuries, including Copley, Trumbull, and Earl
• part 2: late 18th c., including Copley and Earl

• part 3: early and mid-19th c., early Hudson River School, including Cole and Church
• part 11: mid-19th c., including the Colt legacy and the Charter Oak
• part 4: mid-19th c., including Church and Bierstadt
• part 6: late 19th c. painting and sculpture, including Church, Remington, and Bierstadt
• part 5: late 19th c. painting, including Church and Heade
• part 9: late 19th and early 20th c. painting and sculpture
• part 10: late 19th and early 20th c. sculpture, including MacMonnies and Frishmuth
• part 8: early and mid-20th c. painting and sculpture, including Andrew Wyeth
• Part 7: survey of images of Niagara Falls, from the 17th to 21st centuries, including Trumbull, Cole, Bierstadt, and Church.

More

• For an overview of landscape painting since ancient times, see this essay.
• In Getting More Enjoyment from Sculpture You Love, I demonstrate a method for looking at sculptures in detail, in depth, and on your own. Learn to enjoy your favorite sculptures more, and find new favorites. Available on Amazon print and Kindle formats.
• Want wonderful art delivered weekly to your inbox? Check out my free Sunday Recommendations list and rewards for recurring support: details here.